Structure elucidation of the elusive Enzyme I monomer reveals the molecular mechanisms linking oligomerization and enzymatic activity

Thumbnail Image
Date
2021-05-18
Authors
Nguyen, Trang
Ghirlando, Rodolfo
Roche, Julien
Venditti, Vincenzo
Major Professor
Advisor
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Authors
Person
Venditti, Vincenzo
Associate Professor
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Organizational Unit
Journal Issue
Is Version Of
Versions
Series
Department
ChemistryBiochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Roy J. Carver Department of
Abstract

Enzyme I (EI) is a phosphotransferase enzyme responsible for converting phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) into pyruvate. This reaction initiates a five-step phosphorylation cascade in the bacterial phosphotransferase (PTS) transduction pathway. Under physiological conditions, EI exists in an equilibrium between a functional dimer and an inactive monomer. The monomer–dimer equilibrium is a crucial factor regulating EI activity and the phosphorylation state of the overall PTS. Experimental studies of EI’s monomeric state have yet been hampered by the dimer’s high thermodynamic stability, which prevents its characterization by standard structural techniques. In this study, we modified the dimerization domain of EI (EIC) by mutating three amino acids involved in the formation of intersubunit salt bridges. The engineered variant forms an active dimer in solution that can bind and hydrolyze PEP. Using hydrostatic pressure as an additional perturbation, we were then able to study the complete dissociation of the variant from 1 bar to 2.5 kbar in the absence and the presence of EI natural ligands. Backbone residual dipolar couplings collected under high-pressure conditions allowed us to determine the conformational ensemble of the isolated EIC monomeric state in solution. Our calculations reveal that three catalytic loops near the dimerization interface become unstructured upon monomerization, preventing the monomeric enzyme from binding its natural substrate. This study provides an atomic-level characterization of EI’s monomeric state and highlights the role of the catalytic loops as allosteric connectors controlling both the activity and oligomerization of the enzyme.

Comments

This article is published as Nguyen, Trang T., Rodolfo Ghirlando, Julien Roche, and Vincenzo Venditti. "Structure elucidation of the elusive Enzyme I monomer reveals the molecular mechanisms linking oligomerization and enzymatic activity." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, no. 20 (2021): e2100298118. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2100298118.

Description
Keywords
Citation
DOI
Copyright
Collections